A Tamer’s Story: Learning to Heal
by Dragon of Light
Summary: After many years, Ruki’s dark past must come to light for her to heal. But to start healing she must learn what it means to truly trust and love another human being of the opposite sex. Can Ryo be the one to help her?
1. A Nightmarish Past

I actually had this done Thursday, but I kept forgetting to put it up. I hope you enjoy the second installment of the _A Tamer's Story_ series. This one centers around Ryo and Ruki.

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A Tamer's Story: Learning to Heal

Chapter 1: A Nightmarish Past

Rumiko was sixteen when her first child was born, but she didn't care. She was deeply in love with a man named Kenichi ten years older than her. He promised he'd do anything for her, and their newborn daughter whom they named Ruki. He even promised to marry her, and he kept his promises...for a while anyways. 

They lived in a small apartment in the middle of Shinjuku. It wasn't long after they were married that Rumiko had found out that he wasn't faithful to her. She swallowed her feelings and told no one about it. She figured as long as she told no one about it, then his threats to beat her up, would remain just that; threats.

It was four years later that their little girl, was first abused by that man. 

It was Ruki's first day of preschool, and she'd made friends with a little boy named Nero.

"Ruki. This is for you 'cause you're my friend. You helped me make the hugest castle ever!" Nero said and handed Ruki a piece of paper with colorful scribbles all over it.

"It's pretty. Thank you. Tomorrow we'll build an even huger castle." The little girl beamed.

"Come on children. Your parents are waiting for you." Their teacher told the boy and girl.

"Teacher. Look what Nero gived me. He's my friend." Ruki said showing the teacher the paper.

"That's lovely. You should make him one and give it to him tomorrow. Now come along. Your dad is waiting for you." The teacher said and took Ruki outside.

"Bye, bye!" Ruki said and waved to the teacher before going very far.

Her father grabbed her hand rather roughly and opened the back door of the car.

"What took you so long to get out here?" He asked angrily as he buckled her in.

"I was talking to my friend Nero, and the teacher. Look what Nero gave me!" She chirped.

"I don't give a damn about what some snot-nosed brat gave you. As soon as school is over you are to come out here." He said ripping the paper from her hand and ripping it to pieces.

That action made Ruki start to cry.

"Shut up damnit!" He yelled, which made her cry harder.

He grabbed her tiny wrists in one hand and pulled her body forward and proceeded to pound on the little girl's back.

"Now shut the hell up, or you'll get more!" He yelled.

She whimpered and Kenichi got in the front seat. Ruki curled up in a ball as he drove. When they got to the apartment building he went to the back seat, which to any passer-by looked like he was unbuckling her.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll hurt you even worse. And I'll tell your mom what a bad girl you've been. She hates bad girls, and so do I. Do you understand?"

Ruki nodded. He unbuckled her and they went into the apartment. Rumiko wasn't home from work yet, so it was just the two of them. Ruki had started playing with some of her toys when Kenichi walked over to her with an idea in his head. He crouched down and took the toy from her hands to get her attention.

"We're going to play a game." The man smirked.

"Yeah!" She chirped happily seemingly forgetting about what had happened not even five minutes ago.

But it wasn't really a game they were playing. He ended up stripping the girl of all her clothes and had her parading around like that for him in the bedroom. She was too young to think that it was wrong.

"Ruki? Kenichi? Where are you?" Rumiko called not seeing them in the living room.

"Put your clothes on and don't tell your mother about this or I'll beat you." He hissed and left the room.

The four-year-old had no idea why she wasn't supposed to tell her mother and only worked on putting her clothes on.

"I didn't hear you come in, Baby! Ruki and I were just playing Hide 'n Seek." He lied hanging an arm around Rumiko's shoulders as Ruki came out. "Isn't that right kid?"

"Why is her shirt on backward and inside out?" Rumiko asked him

"She got something on her other shirt and she said she wanted to change her own shirt. Guess I didn't notice." He lied.

"Oh. Have the two of you eaten yet?"

"Nope. I hasn't had anything since snack time." Ruki said.

"How does pizza sound?" He asked.

"That's fine with me." Rumiko said.

"Yeah!" Ruki echoed. "Pizza!"

After that incident Kenichi would take every moment he could to watch his daughter prance around naked, and make any excuse to take out all the pressure of his relationship with Rumiko on Ruki. He'd do anything from smack her with his bare hand to deny her dinner. He'd always blame any bruises immediately on Ruki's clumsiness. He even got Ruki to start blaming the bruises on herself.

Rumiko switched to a part-time job the next year to stay at home with Ruki to, perhaps, help her with her lack of elegance. With no time to get his pleasures from the young girl's antics during the day, Kenichi turned to nighttime visits to Ruki's room. He started to use her for his sexual pleasures. That lasted for about two and a half years before Rumiko found out about it. 

Rumiko had woken up in the middle of the night alone, but that was nothing new. Kenichi was always bouncing around all night to one or more different women's houses, or so she thought he had no idea that the "other woman" was her own daughter. 

Rumiko had gone into the kitchen for a drink when she noticed Ruki's bedroom light on. After finishing the drink off, she walked over to the bedroom door and heard some noises coming from inside. She opened the door quickly to find her husband making love to their daughter.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Rumiko yelled. "Get your sleazy ass away from her!"

"Let me explain--" Kenichi said smoothly.

"I don't want to hear a lying word from your mouth! Get out of here!" She yelled.

"Listen to me for a moment." He said.

Rumiko just threw Ruki's lamp at him and he got out of the room. She turned to her daughter and sat at the end of the bed. Ruki just looked away from her mother's face and clutched the blanket close to her.

"Are you alright Ruki?"

She nodded, but refused to look at her mother. "Please don't throw me out into the streets." She whispered.

"What? Why would you think I would do that?"

"Dad told me that if you found out he was spending so much time with me, then you'd get mad and throw me out because I was a bad girl, worth nothing."

"That's not true! I love you. He's the one who should be ashamed not you. You're nine-years-old. You know that if someone's touching you and doing such things to you, you should tell me."

"You said if strangers were. Dad's not a stranger." Ruki said finally looking at her mother.

"I'm so sorry. I should have expected something was going on. How long has he been doing this? Tell me."

"How long for what?" She asked emotionlessly.

"This! Coming to your room and...and..." Rumiko asked tearfully.

"Oh. That. A very long time. Since I was five, I think."

Rumiko's eyes widened, and she started crying harder and held tightly onto her daughter. Ruki didn't quite understand why her mom was so upset. Didn't every girl's father do that kinda stuff to them. Her father had said so.

"I won't let him do this to you ever again." Rumiko said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What about when he hits me? Will you stop that too?"

"He hits you! So those bruises and cuts are--Oh, Ruki. I won't let him come near you again. We're going to go to grandma's for a while." Rumiko said standing up. "In fact, let's go now."

Ruki obliged and changed her clothes as her mother made sure her father didn't try to get at her again. She left her room and found her parents in a shouting match.

"You aren't taking her anywhere! Ruki is staying right here with me." Kenichi yelled.

"Oh really? And how do you expect to buy food for either of you? You don't have a job! My part-time job barely gives us enough money to pay the rent. My mother sends me money for food so that my daughter doesn't starve to death! You are just a lazy bum!" Rumiko yelled back.

"She's my daughter too! You can't take her anywhere without my consent!" 

"And that's why she has no friends, you don't let her have them! You refuse to let her do anything but go to and from school. A child should have friends!"

"Those so-called 'friends' you speak of will only give her drugs and alcohol and-"

"-Keep her away from your pleasures which I walked in on? You are sick! I knew you were fucking other women, I even looked the other way. But when I found out you were screwing your own daughter and telling her that every girl is screwed by her own father--You are a disgusting man-whore!"

Ruki just stood there listening to all of it. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

"Well she's the best I've ever had--Ruki, why don't you tell your mother you want to stay here with me instead of going to your evil grandma's house." He said with a devious smile.

"Quit with your stupid mind control. She's not staying with you. Come on Ruki. Let's go to grandma's." Rumiko said walking to the door. "Ruki?" She asked when Ruki didn't make a move to follow her.

Ruki walked toward her father, much to her mother's horror.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." Kenichi smiled.

"No." Ruki said.

"'No'? What do you mean by that?"

"I refuse to be treated like an object any longer. I hate you. You lied to me. You said mom would hate me and throw me out if I told her. She didn't. She won't. She loves me."

"I do too. Why wouldn't I love you?"

"You don't love me as a person. You love me as an object. I won't stand for it any longer. I hate you, and all men. I'll never trust another thing you say." Ruki said and walked to her mother.

The two of them walked out the door leaving a shocked Kenichi behind them. Shouts could be heard behind them as they descended the steps of their home and went to the car. On the car ride to her grandma's house, Ruki fell asleep. 

When she woke up she found herself on an overstuffed couch in her grandma's house. Rubbing her eyes she went to the bathroom. On the way back to the couch she noticed a light on in the kitchen. She opened the door slightly, and heard the conversation her mother and her grandmother, Seiko, over some tea.

"I had no idea he was doing that to her. I mean, I knew he was doing that stuff to other women, but--his own daughter! I just can't believe he'd ever be so sick!" Rumiko wept

"I'm not the kind of person who usually thinks ill of anyone, but I never trusted him. There was that look in his eyes that said trouble." Seiko stated then took a sip of her tea. "Don't tell me you're going to go back to him after what he did to Ruki!"

"No! Of course not! Kenichi should be tossed in jail forever for taking away my daughter's innocence like that. He stole away her chance to grow up to be a happy, normal girl. I wouldn't be surprised if she never learns to trust another man because of this."

The door creaked open and the two women looked at the nine-year-old.

"Hello Ruki. Are you doing okay?" Seiko asked.

Ruki nodded, then just stared at her grandmother. Silence was something that her father always pushed on her.

"Those things he did to you were very bad. No one has the right to hit you or...or..." Rumiko said and started crying hard.

Ruki looked over at her mother, then at the floor.

"But, he told me that he was aloud to because he was my father."

"That was a lie. Your father is a very bad man. The things he did to you, no one should have to go through." Seiko said.

"I didn't know." Ruki said.

"Any man asking you to take your clothes of is nothing but trouble." Seiko continued. "Many men and boys want just that from women and girls. They can't be trusted, especially those like your father."

Rumiko summoned Ruki to her and held her as she cried. Ruki stood there taking it all in.

_Dad is a guy. Guys want girls to take their clothes off, which is bad. That means that boys are bad, so girls must be good. Dad makes mom cry. I don't want mom to cry. I'll make them pay! _Ruki told herself.

The next day at school she started picking fights with the boys at school. It was then that Ruki's fourth grade teacher, Miss Kasumi called Rumiko.

"Ruki's been starting fights with the boys. Do you have any idea why?" Miss Kasumi asked Rumiko.

"Well, her father's been beating and sexually abusing her. I just found out about it yesterday. We've gotten out of there now though." Rumiko said

"I don't understand though why she just started this today."

"Do you think it would help if she went to an all girls' school?"

"It might, but are you sure you'd want her to change schools in the middle of the year?"

"I am a bit concerned about him coming to get her after school, or even pulling her out of school to abuse her."

The teacher thought for a moment, especially about what Rumiko had just said.

"Maybe it would be best for her."

The next day Ruki didn't go to school, nor the rest of the week either. In the middle of that week Rumiko walked to the corner store and bought some Digimon Cards for Ruki so that she had something to do while she was at work and her grandma was busy. She practiced with them for hours on end that week. 

On Monday, she went to the all girls' school. She made a big fuss about wearing the uniform, especially since her father had always made her wear skirts and dresses.

"I won't wear a skirt! Not any more!" Ruki screamed.

"The only time you have to wear it is to school, at school, and on the way home from school. You can wear whatever you want any other time."

"No! I won't do it! I refuse!" Ruki cried.

Rumiko was out of ideas until she remembered how much she played with those cards that she and Seiko had bought for her.

"I'll give you money to get more cards if you will."

Ruki stared her mother down then sighed.

"Fine." Ruki said giving in to her mother's bribe and putting the skirt on.

"Now hurry on to school or you'll be late."

"You said you'd give me money for cards." Ruki said standing her ground.

"You get a dollar for each day you wear it. At the end of the week you'll get five dollars. Now go." Rumiko said handing Ruki the dollar as she pushed her out the door.

On the way to school Ruki's attention was caught by a poster advertising a Digimon Card Battle Tournament.

"What's this? 'The eighth annual Digimon Card Battle Tournament will be held on Saturday, March 25th at the Tokyo Convention Center. Preliminary rounds begin at seven a.m. Will you be the one to beat Ryo Akiyama, the Legendary Tamer?' Hmm. That's in three weeks. I bet I could beat him, easy." Ruki said to herself after reading the poster.

As she was imagining a sure win, the school bells started chiming that she had five minutes until class started. She cursed herself as she ran to school. She barely made it on time.

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End Chapter 1

Next Chapter: Ryo's childhood until before the Tournament in which Ryo and Ruki faced off!


	2. Dealing with Death

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A Tamer's Story: Learning to Heal

Chapter 2: Dealing with Death

Ryo was the apple of his parents' eye. His mother, Aya loved astronomy and when he was about five she would bring him outside in the middle of the night to teach him the constellations and about the stories behind them. She offered him the history and workings of the universe and he breathed it in. Those sessions would usually last for about an hour and a half every night. 

His father, Sasuke, disapproved of the whole thing. Ryo knew it too. He'd hear them fighting at night. Sometimes he'd lay there and listen to it, other times he'd crawl out onto the overhang under his window and watch the stars on their course along the heavens. 

One night they had an extremely bad fight. Ryo was watching the stars up on the roof as he often did when a crash came from the hallway outside his door. He crept back into his room and opened the door a crack to see what was going on.

"I am so sick of this Aya! That boy is a sissy because of you. You've really messed him up with all this 'star talk' of yours."

"Sasuke. It's only a hobby-"

"I want a divorce!"

"What? A divorce? Just because I'm teaching him about astronomy? That is stupid."

"It's not just the stupid stars. I'm sick of your attitude when it comes to his upbringing! You think your way is the only way. You filled his head with stars, stories and a disliking of sports."

"Just because he's a boy you think he has to love sports just like you. If I'd had a daughter you wouldn't care if she learned about the stars."

"Get out! And take that wimp of a boy out of here too!" He yelled throwing a vase at Aya.

"You're throwing us out?!"

"I can't live with you anymore."

"Why don't _you_ leave?"

"This house is in _my_ name, that's why."

"I can't believe I even married you in the first place!" She screamed.

"I know why. It's because of that child of yours. You roped me in with _him_. I could have been happy if it wasn't for him. I probably wouldn't have married you then."

"You know what? Shove it you asshole! We aren't getting thrown out, we're leaving of our own will." She yelled and turned to enter Ryo's room. 

That's when she noticed him standing there.

"Ryo!" She said in shock. After a second she steadied her voice and grabbed the boy's hand. "I was just coming to surprise you. You're birthday's tomorrow, and I have a great way to spend your last night as a five-year-old. I'm taking you to the planetarium. Get dressed quick or we'll miss the show."

Instead of saying anything he just threw some clothes on and came back out with a forced grin. The two of them went to the planetarium for a show, then went to the telescope to watch the lunar eclipse with a couple of other people who were there. The eclipse was completed at midnight. His mother whispered a 'happy birthday' to him and shortly after the eclipse started to fade.

They'd gotten into the car and were leaving the parking lot of the planetarium when a car without it's lights on drove head on into them. The driver's side of their car was nearly completely demolished. Ryo had been on the other side of the car in the backseat. The car that hit them, though crumpled a bit in the front, sped off into the darkness.

"Mom. I'm scared...Mom?" Ryo said as he watched the car speed off.

He looked in her direction and called her name several more times, but she wasn't answering. She just sat slumped over the driver's wheel. That's when the fire started. Ryo panicked and tried to unbuckle the belt, but it wouldn't unfasten so he started to cry out for help.

A man came running. He'd been locking up the building when he heard Ryo's screaming, then saw the car on fire. The man cut off Ryo's seatbelt and carried him to the side of the building. The man ran back for Ryo's mother, but she was surrounded by fire and the door was smashed into the frame. The man ran back to the building as the car exploded into more flames as the fire got into the gas tank.

"MOMMY!" Ryo screamed and passed out seconds later.

He woke up a couple days later in the hospital with his leg in a cast. He looked around and found his father sitting in a chair.

"Where's mom?" Ryo asked his father, Sasuke.

"She's dead." He said harshly.

Ryo stared in shock at his father, who was getting out a set of clothes for Ryo to put on.

"Since you're up, we're going home. I'm not going to spend a fortune on you laying in a bed." He said throwing the clothes at Ryo.

A nurse entered at that moment to check on Ryo.

"Sir, he cannot leave. We have to monitor him. He inhaled a lot of smoke before he was rescued, plus with a broken leg he'd be too much for you to handle by yourself." The nurse said.

"I am his father! I choose what is right for my son not--"

"Sir, calm down. It is in his best interest for him to stay here--"

"In his best interest? All you people want is for me to spend the better part of my life paying this extravagant bill off!"

It took two nurses and a doctor, along with the help of a sedative, to convince him to let Ryo stay in the hospital. While in the hospital Ryo got gifts from various relatives. They were all stuffed animals and coloring books, except for one gift. There was no name on the gift wrapped box. Inside was a starter pack of Digimon Cards and about a dozen booster packs. He immediately took the cards and did what the pictures illustrated, seeing as he couldn't read very much yet having only just turned six. He wouldn't put the cards down except for when he had to eat, sleep and use the restroom. 

After about three weeks they let him go home, and even then he barely put the cards down. When he was aloud to go back to school, he even brought them with him to play with during recess. Now the cards had only just come out the year before and weren't quite widespread with popularity yet. Ryo didn't really have many friends because he was quite shy, and he'd practice by himself.

Shortly after he started bringing them other kids would gather around and watch him in curiosity to see what he was doing, and every day the gathering would get bigger and bigger. One day, an older boy challenged him.

"Hey, I challenge you to a Card-Battle." The older boy, Pretz, who was infamous around the school as being the best at everything.

"Against you? I've never played against anyone before." Ryo replied.

A smile crossed Pretz's face.

"Really? Well if I win I get any card of yours I want. And if _you_ win-" He said. Several of his friends snickered. "-you get one of my cards. I warn you though, it isn't very likely you'll win."

"I'll play you." Ryo said pulling out his cards and kneeling down on one side of the bench. Pretz did likewise on the other side.

The battle then ensued. The crowd of students became larger with every passing second, until all of them were watching. As it neared an ending Pretz was sweating bullets and Ryo wasn't even braking a sweat at all. Pretz laid down his last card with a grin. It was his best card. Ryo slowly put down his last card and Pretz's jaw dropped.

"I-I can't believe you lost." One of Pretz's friends said in shock.

"So which one do you want." Pretz said dejectedly as he spread his cards out.

"Are you sure that you want me to take one?" Ryo asked.

"It was our deal."

Ryo made a move and took one of Pretz's weakest cards.

"Most people would have taken my most powerful, why didn't you?" He said gathering his remaining cards up.

"I like this one and I didn't have it yet. And, if I took your really good one it wouldn't be a challenge to play you again."

"You're pretty smart, kid. What's your name?"

"Ryo Akiyama."

Pretz looked at his friends, who nodded as if they knew what he was thinking.

"You are entering the Tournament, aren't you?"

"What tournament?"

"You never heard of the Digimon Card-Battle Tournament? Well, now you have. You should enter. You've got natural skills."

"I don't know..." Ryo said putting his cards away.

"Tell ya what. You're gonna battle my friends too. If either of them win I'll drop it, but if you beat both of them, you enter. That's the deal instead of trading a card afterwards."

"Okay."

Ryo then went on to play against Pretz's two friends, both of whom he beat rather easily. After school that day, the three older boys walked him to the signup desk to enter him in the tournament.

"The four of us are entering." Pretz said.

The woman at the counter took the names of the three older boys then looked over at Ryo.

"How old are you?"

"Six."

"I'm sorry. But there is an age limit. You have to be at least eight to enter."

"What?! But he's the best player we know!" Pretz complained.

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules."

"I demand to talk to Mr. Sutaa! He made up the rules!" Pretz yelled banging his fist on the table.

"That's not possible. Now, you'd better leave peacefully or I'll remove your names from the list. I know you wouldn't want that Pretz, especially as the reigning champion."

"Fine. We will leave, but first could I please talk to him? I'm sure that if he met our young friend here, he'd allow him to enter." Pretz said calmly.

"I'm sorry but you can't. Many have come with young prodigies as you claim to have and he has denied every one of them."

"I see." Pretz said. "Well you see, my father is that man. I wish to speak with him."

"No. It's okay. I'll just wait until I'm eight." Ryo said nervously.

"Then you should know the age limit. He said not to let _anyone_ bother him." The woman said.

"What's all the commotion going on out here?" A man yelled as the door behind the woman flew open.

"Mr. Sutaa, I was just telling these kids that the age rule is nonnegotiable."

"Dad, my friend here is really good, but he's just _slightly_ below the age limit. He beat me and my homies. He deserves to be in it. Plus, he's quite honorable. He could have taken any card after beating me and he took an Agumon, one of the most common cards out there."

"He beat you? You? The winner from last year?" Mr. Sutaa said in shock as he looked from his son, then to Ryo. "Hmm. Miss Nekoi, he is to be entered, and the age limit lowered to his age. Put an announcement out that the age has now been lowered."

"But, Sir!-" She started, but his face told her that it was final. "Yes, sir." She said defeatedly and took down Ryo's name.

Two weeks later the Second Annual Digimon Card-Battle Tournament took place and Ryo was declared the winner after beating everyone he came across, including Pretz again. He showed his father the card and medal he won as prizes that night.

"I won the tournament dad! I beat everyone. Look. I got a medal and a rare, halo Azulongmon card! I can't believe it!" Ryo said excitedly showing off his prizes to his father who was watching a sports game.

Sasuke took the card and looked it over.

"You're excited about a shiny piece of cardboard with a cartoon of a dragon on it and a piece of yellow plastic?"

"It's not just cardboard and plastic." Ryo said taking it back from his father. "It's a rare card for a collection and an award, just like your baseball cards and sports trophies."

"Those are the kinds of things you should be interested in. Besides, you probably won by accident." Sasuke said and turned his attention back to a game on TV.

Ryo was hurt. He had been so excited about all of it, and his father had shot him down. The six-year-old went into his room and looked out the window at the stars which were coming out.

"Did you see me win mom? Are you proud of me?" He asked the stars.

A few stars twinkled and a meteor raced across the sky. Tears formed in Ryo's eyes. To him that was a sign from his mother that she was proud of him.

"Thanks, mom." He said with a smile and tucked his new card away in a binder with several other cards.

With that done, he crawled into bed and dreamed sweet dreams.

Ryo entered every tournament after that and won every for the past six years. It was now going to be his seventh tournament. Over the course of his career as winner he'd gained the title of the Legendary Tamer. Everyone forgot about the one who had been the winner in the first tournament, Pretz. Pretz and his friends, who'd first started him in the tournament, had lost interest in the card game.

Ryo had given up after that one time to show his father that he was good at something. He didn't even have to say anything afterwards anymore. When he'd come home after a tournament his father would ask if he won. After Ryo's answer that he had Sasuke would just scoff and say how pathetic Ryo was to be so interested in cartoons drawn on cards and how he should just grow up.

Anyway, Ryo had just signed up for the Eighth Annual Tournament when he noticed a red-headed firecracker in a school uniform enter. He watched as she pushed her way through several kids who were just standing around talking and went over to the sign-up desk. He watched her in interest as she told the receptionist her name.

After she'd finished signing up she glared at Ryo, then walked over to him.

"You're that 'Legendary Tamer' jerk aren't you?" She asked him.

"That's what people call me. And by the way, I'm no jerk Miss..." Ryo said with a smile

Instead of supplying him with her name she only narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to beat the pants off of you Pretty-Boy." She said, then turned and left.

He watched her leave then went over to the receptionist.

"Ma'am, who was that that just left?"

The receptionist looked at the list.

"Ruki Makino." The receptionist said. "Why?"

__

Ruki Makino. Could she be the challenge I've been thirsting for? Ryo thought to himself

"Not any reason really." He said with a little laugh.

"She is kinda cute." The receptionist smiled

"Huh? No it's not that. I've just got a feeling that I should remember her. That's all." The thirteen-year-old said 

**Next Chapter:** The Eighth Annual Digimon Card-Battle Tournament! Find out what happens after the legendary card-battle tournament. 


End file.
